Mind Snare
by Stryker Angel
Summary: When the Doctor wakes up to find himself living the life he's always dreamed of, he must ask himself; How is this possible? Set shortly after "The Waters of Mars."
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who. If I did, then David Tennant and Billie Piper would have been forced to sign life long contracts and Chris Eccleston would make guest appearances on the show.**

A whirring filled the air and reverberated around the dark, empty room. A blue box materialized and a tall, thin man with dark hair and curious eyes stepped out and looked around.

"Ha!" he laughed, "I have no idea where I am! More fun that way, don't you think?" He looked around and sighed. For a moment, he had almost forgotten he was alone again. He shuffled his foot on the hard, concrete-like ground. He whipped his head up when he heard a soft humming noise coming from in front of him. No, it was behind him. Or was it to the side? Before he knew what was happening the humming sound grew louder and louder, coming at him from all sides. He spun in circles trying to see where it was coming from. He stopped in his tracks when something, no, someone stepped forward. It remained in the shadows, but the man could see an outline of the figure. His eyes widened. Not in fear, but interest.

"Who's there?" he called out.

The only response was that the humming grew even louder. He almost thought he could distinguish words out of the sound, but he wasn't sure.

"What do you want?" he asked.

The creature that had stepped forward said in a very singsong voice that was slow and flowing, "It is you. The man who makes things better."

"Yes," the man replied, "I'm the Doctor."

Too focused on the creature in front of him, the Doctor hadn't seen the one that came up behind him. It grabbed his neck with two pale, scale-covered hands. The Doctor gasped and his eyes rolled into the back of his head and the creature let him fall to the ground.


	2. It's a Wonderful Life

Someone was banging from the outside of the room. Or was it just the banging inside his head? The Doctor's eyes fluttered open. The sight he was greeted with was not what he expected. Instead of a dreary, dark ceiling of the basement-like room he had been in, he was gazing up at a simple glass light fixture set in a pale blue ceiling. How did that get there? He thought. His brow furrowed. He sat up and rubbed his sore neck. The banging started again. Nope. It certainly wasn't in his head. It took him a second, but he realized he was sitting on a bed. He bounced a little to make sure it was really there. It was.

"Hmm." He didn't quite know what to make of all this.

"Doctor!" a voice called from beyond the closed door of the room he was in. "We're going to be late!"

He knew that voice. But it couldn't be. He leapt out of the bed and swung open the door. He couldn't believe what he saw.

"It's not possible." He whispered. Yet there she was, standing before him. "Rose."

She turned around and put her hands on her hips.

"Look at you!" she scolded. "You're not even dressed! Do you want to go or not?"

He didn't have a clue what she was talking about, but he didn't care. All that mattered was that his Rose was right there in front of him. He grabbed her in the biggest bear-hug possible with no intention of letting go.

"What is it?" she asked him. "You're acting like you haven't seen me in forever!"

He let go of her and just smiled.

She gave him an odd look.

"Are you alright?"

"Oh, yes!" he nodded enthusiastically. "I'm brilliant. Fantastic even. Brilliantly fantastic!"

"Okay." She grinned. "Whatever you say. But you still got to get ready."

"Right!" he paused. "Where are we going again?"

"To have lunch with Donna." Rose looked bemused. "What did you think?"

"Donna!" he exclaimed, "She's here too?"

"Of course." She was starting to get worried something was actually wrong with his head. "What d'you mean, 'here?'"

He shook his head as if to clear his thoughts.

"Nothing. Sorry." He tapped his head. "Things are getting a little mixed up in here. I'll go change."

He walked back into the bedroom, shut the door and laughed. He had his Rose back. She was actually there. And Donna too! He looked down and noticed he was just wearing a pair of sweatpants.

"Where's my suit gone?" he muttered to himself. He shrugged. What did something trivial like that matter? He opened the closet to find his brown, pinstriped suit.

"Ah! This is more like it!" he pulled the suit out and took it off its hanger. "At last something familiar!"

He slipped it on and went up to Rose.

"This better?" he spread his arms wide to show her his change of apparel.

"Much." She smiled. "Let's be off then."

"Absolutely!"

She grabbed her keys from the table and threw them in her purse. As she did this, the Doctor caught a glimpse of a sparkling diamond ring on the ring finger of her left hand. His mouth dropped open in shock. He glanced at his own left hand and found a golden band, engraved with Gallifreyan writing, on his finger. It just kept getting better and better. He was married to Rose. Rose Tyler. What was she now that they were married though? Rose Doctor? What a strange thought. He beamed. He held his arm out to Rose, which she gladly took, and they headed out the door.

"Blimey!" he exclaimed when he saw the expensive black sports car sitting in the driveway. Rose gave him a questioning look. "Er, blimey! What a beautiful day!" he said hastily. "I can't think of a better day to be going to meet up with Donna! Donna Noble!"

She laughed.

"What is with you today?"

"What d'you mean?" he replied.

"I don't know. You're just so hyper!" she laughed again. "Do you want to drive?"

"Oh, no." he stared at the car, imagining what it might look like after he had crashed it. He didn't even have a license. Well, maybe in this world he did. "You go ahead."

"Alright." She sat down on the driver's side and started up the engine.

"Do you have gum?" he asked her.

"Yeh." She responded as she backed the car out of the driveway. "In my bag."

He opened up her purse and scrounged around, not for gum, but for her identification. Once he had found it he glanced at the name.

Rose Tyler Smith

He chuckled to himself. She went by his old alias of Mr. John Smith. To avoid suspicion, he grabbed a stick of gum and stuck it in his mouth and closed her bag.

"Is it just me?" he asked her.

"What?"

"Or is this gum mintier than usual?" he leaned back in his chair and enjoyed the ride. In a few minutes they pulled up to a small café. A woman with bright red hair was sitting at one of the tables out front. She looked up and waved to them. Rose took a chair beside her, but the Doctor just stood there. The last time he had seen Donna, he had had to wipe her memory. His smile faded. If he saw Donna, and she remembered him, she could die. Rose gestured for him to sit down but he shook his head. Rose frowned, walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"What's wrong?" she looked up at him with her big brown eyes, but he couldn't return her gaze. He just shook his head again. "Come sit down and have some lunch." She pulled gently on his arm, trying to lead him but he wouldn't budge.

"I can't." he whispered.

"Can't what?"

"I can't let Donna see me." He told her.

"What are you talking bout? She already has."

"What!" he gasped. "No! Does she know who I am?"

"Of course she does!" Rose was getting a little annoyed. "She's your friend! What is going on with you?"

The Doctor rose his head to see Donna standing behind Rose.

"Hey." She said. "Is everything okay?"

The Doctor stepped up to her and gave her a hug.

"Of course everything's okay." He assured her.

They all sat down and quickly forgot the Doctor's odd behavior.

"So," Donna was saying to the Doctor, "How's work been?"

"Uhh," he didn't know what to say. Fortunately Donna continued to talk.

"You know, I still can't really picture you as settling down and getting a job. You're some sort of scientist right?"

"Um," that sounded like something he would do. "Yeh. The Doctor the scientist." He grinned.

"The problem is," Rose started to tell Donna, "Is that he can't let on that he knows too much or else they'll get suspicious."

"Yeh, bet his science is way advanced." Donna laughed, "With all that time traveling, alien stuff."

The Doctor nodded.

"I wish I could show some of my colleagues my TARDIS. It would blow their minds!"

They continued talking, all the while the Doctor gathered information on this world he was in. They bid Donna goodbye and returned to their house. The Doctor looked up at his house and let out a heavy sigh. This was all too good. But something wasn't right.


	3. Discerning Reality

The Doctor looked up at his house and let out a heavy sigh. This was all too good. But something wasn't right. Rose, sensing something was wrong, turned and asked him what was on his mind.

"A lot." He told her. "Something's wrong, Rose. Something's terribly wrong." He recounted what had happened in the basement with the creatures and how he woke up here and didn't remember anything. Rose listened to everything he said, but her expression was unreadable.

"Do you believe me?" he asked her.

"Doctor, you took me to the end of the world, New Earth, and the 2012 Olympics. I've seen nurse cat nuns, gas mask zombies, and even a werewolf!" she laughed. "Of course I believe you."

He was still incredibly troubled.

"Um, that's not all." He looked sheepish. "The last time I saw you, you had beamed across the universe using a dimension cannon because the Earth had been moved."

"Along with 26 other planets." Rose finished for him. "Davros and his daleks were using the planets to create a reality bomb."

"You remember that?" he asked.

"Of course. After that we defeated Davros and a sort of clone of you was grown from your hand."

The Doctor nodded. "I remember all that."

"And then," Rose continued. "You dropped my mum and clone boy off on the parallel universe at Dalig Ulv Stranden."

"I remember all that too."

"And then you, me, and Donna went back to the other universe."

"No." the Doctor interrupted. "No, that's were it gets barmy."

"What?" Rose asked.

"You see, I don't remember it quite that way. I left you with the other Doctor in the parallel universe. Ow!" he shouted in pain.

"Are you alright?"

"My head." He moaned. "It's killing me."

"I think you need a Doctor." she smiled.

"I said that to you once." He grinned.

"You did?"

"Oh, right, you don't remember that. What was I saying?" he asked.

"Something about leaving me in another universe." She told him.

"Right. And then I had to wipe Donna's memory, because," he broke off and rubbed his head. "Because she absorbed my knowledge, and," he was getting light headed. He sat down in a chair. "And it was killing her. Too much . . . knowledge . . . for a human." He panted.

Rose pulled up a chair and sat next to him.

"Oh, Doctor." She whispered. "What's happening to you?"

"I don't know." He gasped. "It's like someone's in my head."

"What d'you mean?"

"I mean, I think someone doesn't want me to figure out what's going on. Every time I get close to an answer, the pain starts and I forget."

Rose put her arms around him and held him close.

"It's gonna be okay." She murmured to him.

"I certainly hope so. My head's feeling better." He sounded almost surprised. "Actually, It's completely better. The pain's gone!"

"Good."

"I think I need to lay down for a bit though." He told her.

"I think that's a good idea." She kissed his forehead. "I'll have a cuppa ready for you when you wake up."

She walked off and the Doctor locked himself in the bedroom. He kicked the bed in frustration.

"Ow!" he sat down and rubbed his foot. "That was stupid."

He looked around. Everything seemed so real. But how could it be? The last thing he remembered was that cold basement full of aliens, but the memory was becoming vague. Slipping away like a dream once you've woken up. Maybe that's what it was. A dream. Or this world he was in now was a dream. Or maybe . . . his head was starting to hurt again.. He jumped to his feet and started pacing. What had happened to him?

"I was in the TARDIS." He started talking to no one in particular. "Then there was a room. Um, it was dark, I think. Yeh, and cold. What else!" he couldn't remember. He ran his long fingers through his hair. "I'm a Timelord! I don't forget things! I was alone. No I wasn't. Someone else was there. Something happened."

The more he thought about it, the more it became a blur.

"Something . . ." he touched his neck. "Oh, I can't remember!"

His head was really hurting now. It was aching and throbbing. It was like someone was clawing at it and distracting him with pain every time he got close to figuring out what happened. He sat down on the bed, cradling his sore head in his hands. The pain was overwhelming now, and starting to cloud his vision. It was building by the second. Cold sweat was dripping down his face. He bit his lip until it bled in an effort to keep from crying out. His breath came in shuddering gasps, until he just passed out on the bed. He woke up about an hour later and took in a deep breath that filled his nose with the smell of a hot pot of tea. He left the room and sat down at the table in the dining room and Rose brought him a warm cuppa.

"Thanks."

"Did you have a nice rest?" she asked him.

"Yeh. I had the weirdest dream though." He told her as he took a sip of his tea.

"What bout?" she sat down across from him.

"I dreamed I was in this basement and then I was trying to convince you of this alternate life that I had been living. Ha!" he laughed, "How's that for ridiculous? Course, when you've seen the things we have nothing really seems too odd."

She looked puzzled.

"What?" he asked.

"But," she started, "Before you went to rest you told me all of that was real and had really happened to you."

His brow furrowed. "You're right!" he smacked himself in the head. "What was I thinking? It wasn't a dream, it was real! Maybe," he paused. "Maybe someone wants me to think it was all just a dream. Ow! My head!"

"Not again?" Rose looked concerned.

"Yeh. It's alright." He grimaced.

"You said before that you felt like someone was inside your head. Or at least stopping you from remembering." She reminded him.

"Yeh," he closed his eyes, trying to block out the pain. "I did." He took a deep breath and another sip of his tea. "If what I think happened after our second trip to good old Bad Wolf Bay is real, and I know it is, and I really did go to 1860, a desert planet, and Mars, which I did, then this world here," he gestured around, "Can't be real. Because these two worlds, theses two lives I've lived, can't both be real. And if I know my other life is the real one, then this one can't be real! Ow!" He gripped the edge of the table. "That one really hurt."

"What?" she gave him a blank look. "I have no idea what you just said. Try again. This time say it s-l-o-w-e-r." She emphasized the word 'slower.'

"Right, sorry. I talk too fast. I know." He took a large gulp of tea and tried again. "Okay, there are two worlds that we're looking at here. The one I remember, and the one you remember. Right?"

"Right."

"And I know that the life I remember is the real one," he gasped in pain. "And that means the life you remember," he was struggling to get the words out. "This one here, can't be real."

"Okay," she put her hands up to stop him talking. "Let me see if I can get my head 'round this. You're saying that the last 6 months of my life haven't happened? You're saying they aren't real."

"Yes." He nodded.

"Well, how's that done then?" she asked, "I mean, if this life isn't real, how are we in it?" she knocked on the table, "I mean, I can feel this table. I can taste this tea. How's that possible. Is it some sorta illusion?"

"Has to be." He said assuredly. "But you're right. How are they, whoever 'they' are, doing this? Wait a second!" he spun to face Rose. "Do we always stay right in this little town here?"

"What's it matter if it's not real?" she frowned.

"Oh, don't be that way." He told her. "I mean it though. We went to have lunch with Donna at that café which was a few minutes away. Do we ever go farther than that, or go someplace that takes longer to get to?"

"Now that you mention it, we don't." she replied. "I've never really gone much farther than a mile away from the house."

"Yes!" he exclaimed, thumping the table and splashing tea all over. "That's it! That's how they're doing it!" he stood up, grabbed his hair and spun around. "Why didn't I see it before? It's so obvious!"

"See what?" Rose questioned. "What's so obvious?"

He put his hands on the table and leaned in close to her.

"It's a holoroom." He whispered. As soon he said that he grabbed his head which had started to hurt again.

"A holoroom?" she repeated. "You mean this is all a hologram?"

"A very elaborate sophisticated hologram. One that you can interact with."

"Like in Star Trek!" Rose grinned.

"Yeh, but better." he told her. "And not in a TV show."

He sat back in his chair, the pain in his head subsiding.

"The next step, obviously, is getting out."

"You're right." She agreed. "I don't care how nice this life is, if it's fake I want out."

"I knew you would."

"So what's the plan?"

"Well," he leaned back and put his feet on the table. "A holoroom this sophisticated has to have some sort of central base of operations, if you will. Our job is to find it." He pulled his feet off the table when he noticed his pants were getting soaked with the tea he had spilled. "Rose, is there any place that we never ever go. A place we've never been in?"

She shook her head. He looked disappointed.

"Hold on. Maybe there is." She stood up. "There's this building, big corporation like building. I've never been in there, but I remember seeing . . ." she broke off suddenly with a gasp of pain. She grabbed her head.

"Oh, no!" the Doctor moaned. "It's happening to you too! Fight it, Rose! You've got to tell me what you know!"

He grabbed hold of her hand and she squeezed it so hard her knuckles turned white.

"I saw . . . people . . . with uniforms . . . going in an out." She gasped out.

"That's it." He was sure of it. "That's the base of operations." He hugged Rose. "Good girl! You did it!"

She smiled weakly.

"We've got to get down there." He leapt up as if ready to run out the door and down the street to the building that second.

"One question." Rose put up her hand as if waiting to ask a question in a class.

The Doctor pointed to her. "Yes, you. Pretty blonde girl in the blue jacket."

She smiled. "Why would anyone want to lock you and me up in a holoroom?"

"And Donna. He reminded her."

"Yeh."

"Maybe we have something they want. Like information." He suggested.

"Or maybe," Rose looked excited, "We were captured by ultra smart aliens who are conducting experiments on humans!"

"Actually, that could be the case." He admitted. "But I doubt they just randomly selected three time traveling aliens who all happen to know each other. Besides, I'm not even human."

"True. But maybe it wasn't random. Maybe they chose us for a reason."

"If so," the Doctor expanded on her thought, "What's the reason?"

"I don't know." She stated. "But I want to find out. Let's go sneak into a heavily guarded building then, yeh?"

"Just like old times!" he grinned, grabbed her hand, and they headed out the door.


	4. Just Like Old Times

"I don't know." She stated. "But I want to find out. Let's go sneak into a heavily guarded building then, yeh?"

"Just like old times!" he grinned, grabbed her hand, and they headed out the door.

A few minutes later they drove up to a blue house with a white picket fence.

"Where are we?" he asked Rose.

"Donna's."

"Donna lives here?" he laughed incredulously.

"Somehow this doesn't strike me as her kinda place."

"Yeh," Rose agreed, "It's not. But anyway, I figured she'd want in on the action."

"You figured right. She'd kill us if we didn't take her along." They both stepped out of the car and made their way to the front door. Before they even had a chance to knock, the door flew open.

"You two are up to something. I know it." Donna discerned quickly. "And I want in."

The Doctor and Rose both laughed at the predictability of their friend. They went inside and explained everything to Donna.

"You're taking it well." Rose noticed.

"Well, this has happened to me before." Donna explained. "This whole finding out your life isn't what you thought it was. Or real for that matter."

Rose looked confused.

"In the library." Donna turned to the Doctor. "Do you remember, Doctor?"

"Of course. How could I not?" He saw Rose's failure to understand what they were talking about, and told her, "Yeh, long story. Tell you later."

They all crowded into the sports car and drove to the building. Rose parked the car across the street.

"How're we getting in?" Rose asked as she stepped out of the car.

The Doctor stared at the two guards at the entrance.

"We could just walk in." he suggested.

She raised one eyebrow, unconvinced of his plan.

"Yeh, that's not gonna work. Donna, you and the Doctor will be distraction. I'll take out the guards." She told them.

"What d'you mean 'take them out?'" the Doctor started asking, but Rose had already jumped out of the car.

Donna tapped him on the arm.

"What?"

"Distraction!" she whispered loudly.

"Oh! Right!" They got out of the car and approached the guards.

"Hello, mates!" the Doctor called to them. "Lovely day innit?"

When neither responded, or even moved for that matter, Donna chimed in.

"Oh, I agree! Absolutely lovely! Which probably means there'll be an alien invasion anytime now. That always happens in this town."

The Doctor nodded. "Too true." He turned back to the guards. "Have either of you ever seen an alien invasion?"

They didn't even look at him. He spotted Rose turning round the far corner of the building behind the guards. She signaled him to keep going.

"Ok, this method isn't working."

"How bout you try the 'Totally Random Crazy Psychopath' method?" Donna recommended.

"Good idea." He ran up to the guards and put his face right in the male guard's. "Oh my goodness!" he screamed. He took hold of the guards shoulder and turned him around and pointed towards the sky. The female guard watched them with an odd look. "It's a flying banana!"

"Sir," the guard began as he tried to push the Doctor away.

"Oh, no!" Donna joined in and went up to the female. "If it's a flying banana you guys have got to do something fast before the entire Earth is exterminated!"

A leg came out of nowhere and slammed into the side of the female guards head, causing her to crash into the other guard and send them flying into the wall. Rose straightened out her jacket and looked at her companions who were staring at the unconscious bodies with shock.

"Come on then!" she called. "What next?"

"Oh, um." The Doctor turned to her. "Right. What next." He bent down and pulled a key ring off the male guards belt.

"Won't we look a little out of place just strolling around inside a high security building?" Donna pointed out.

"Good point." Rose bent down and started dragging the female guard off. "But if you two are being escorted by a guard it won't seem strange at all."

A few minutes later Rose came out from around the corner wearing the tight leather uniform of the guard. She adjusted the helmet and picked up one of the firearms.

"How do I look?" she asked.

"Lovely." The Doctor told her.

"Thanks! Now get a move on!" she signaled for them to move with her gun and then laughed.

The Doctor unlocked the door and tossed the keys to Rose who hooked them onto her belt. They walked into a large room with a vaulted ceiling. There was a main desk and several adjacent corridors.

"Which way?" Rose looked around at all the different directions they could go.

"Let's find out." The Doctor jumped over the desk and took a seat in the chair in front of the computer.

"How comes there's no one at the desk." Rose said as she walked around to the back of the chair and Donna followed.

The Doctor glanced at a coffee cup to the side of the computer. He touched it.

"Still hot." He declared. "The guard will probably be back soon. We better hurry."

"Blimey, this is uncomfortable!" Rose complained as she tried to adjust the suit she was wearing. "It's really tight."

"Looks good though." he said as his long fingers flew across the keyboard and different images flashed back and forth across the screen.

"What're you looking for?" Donna inquired.

"A main control panel." He answered without looking up.

"You think that'll be what's controlling the hologram?" she asked.

"Undoubtedly. Here we go!" he exclaimed. "Fourth floor room 477. Top security. They've got guards posted night and day. And you need a keycard and a pass code to get in."

"Can you get those?" Rose asked as she tried to keep an eye on all entrances in case the guard came back.

"Yeh. I think so." He started pulling open drawers.

"They won't have left the keycard and the code written on a little slip of paper in a desk drawer!" Donna told him.

"I know. I'm not looking for that. Aha!" he opened a drawer to reveal several small, clear plastic boxes filled with keycards. He opened one and took a card out. He stuck it in his mouth as he continued hacking into the computer. A small window with red flashing letters appeared on the screen. He then swiped the card in something that looked like it was for credit cards.

"Donna, take this." He handed her the card. "One down, one to go."

"You better hurry it up." Rose whispered.

"Shouldn't be a problem. I've already gotten past their security."

"No, Doctor, I mean hurry! The guard's coming!" she hissed.

"Oh!" his fingers moved even faster.

The guard was slowly walking towards the desk with his head down, looking at a clipboard in his hand.

"Okay! The code's 335533!" he quickly got up and they scurried out from behind the desk and started walking towards the elevator just as the guard was looking up.


	5. Impossible Captors

The guard was slowly walking towards the desk with his head down, looking at a clipboard in his hand.

"Okay! The code's 335533!" he quickly got up and they scurried out from behind the desk and started walking towards the elevator just as the guard was looking up.

"Hey!" the guard yelled. "What's going on? You're not supposed to be in here!"

He glared at Donna and the Doctor.

"It's alright." Rose assured him. "I'm taking them to the brig. I caught them uh, trespassing."

"Oh. Alright." The guard passed them and sat down behind his desk.

They all piled into the elevator and the Doctor hit the number four button. It opened into a long skinny corridor. Their footsteps echoed as they walked down the hall. As they got closer to the end, they saw 7 guards at the door.

"Betcha that's it." Rose commented.

"We have to get rid of those guards." The Doctor looked to Rose. "Any ideas?"

She nodded. "Donna, have you got the card?"

Donna nodded.

"Okay, then as soon as the guards are gone you open the door and yell for us."

She nodded again.

"You, Doctor . . ." she broke off as she was hit by a green beam from behind them. She crumpled to the floor.

"Rose!" the Doctor screamed. He turned around and saw several guards closing in on them with their guns raised. They fired again, and both the Doctor and Donna collapsed beside Rose. The Doctor looked up and saw a woman with dark, jet-black hair in a tight bun, and then passed out.

"Oooh." The Doctor moaned as he sat up and rubbed the spot on his chest where he'd been shot. "That hurt."

"Don't be such a baby!" Donna scolded as she sat up behind him. They were in a small white room with no doors or windows. The Doctor looked to his left and saw Rose still unconscious next to him. He shook her gently.

"Wake up." He murmured. When she didn't respond he shook her harder. "Come on!" He rolled her onto her back and felt her neck. "No pulse. They must've hit her right in the heart! Come on, Rose! Donna! Get over here!"

Donna ran to his side. He pulled open the uniform Rose was wearing.

"You can't expect her to breath while wearing that! Now, Donna, when I tell you, compress her chest!"

"Right! We had to take a CPR class when I was a temp."

He bent down and breathed into Rose's mouth a couple times. "Go!" he told Donna.

She started pumping Rose's chest with both hands. The Doctor waited a second, and breathed into her again. He felt her neck, shook his head, and tried again. They kept at it for several minutes.

"Doctor!" Donna yelled, "This isn't working! What we need is a defibrillator!"

"Well, we haven't got one!" he yelled back. "Wait! Maybe we do!"

He stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out his sonic screwdriver. He changed the setting and then placed the end on Rose's chest and turned it on. It sent an electrical charge to her heart. Her body convulsed and was still again.

"No, Rose, no!" he tried again. This time she took a shallow breath and started coughing. She was deathly pale, but alive. She stayed lying on the ground for several minutes and then the Doctor helped her sit up. Once the color started returning to her face, he asked her if she was all right.

"A bit shaky, but otherwise okay." She muttered.

"Good." He pulled her in close and kissed her. "I thought I lost you." He whispered into her ear.

"Nope." She whispered back. "You can't get rid of me that easily."

They grinned at each other.

"Okay." Donna called. "Let's get to the important stuff now, can we?"

"Right!" the Doctor looked up. "First off, how the heck did they know where we were?"

"Maybe they've got some sorta monitoring system. We are in their hologram after all." Donna suggested.

"Yeh, but this building should be outside of the hologram. So, once again, how did they know? How could they have possibly known what our plan was? No one knows my plans! Even I don't know my plans!"

"Maybe they're just that good." Rose said.

"Oh, please." He scoffed. "No one's that good. Although, it does seem like they know my every move. If that's the case, then there's only three options."

"What?" Rose asked.

"1. Mind reading. 2. They know me really, really well. Or 3. They have someone who knows me really, really well." He thought for a second. "I'd say it's the third one. Mind reading of that perfection is a bit far fetched. And I doubt they, whoever 'they' are, know me well enough to pull this off. I mean, a hologram of everything I've ever wanted? And knowing just how I'm going to try and escape? No. They must have someone who was close to me."

"Well done, Doctor." A robotic high-pitched voice sounded all around them. "You figured it out even faster than we anticipated."

"No." the Doctor was in shock. "No! I know that voice! It can't be! It can't!" He screamed.


	6. Breaking Out

"Well done, Doctor." A robotic high-pitched voice sounded all around them. "You figured it out even faster than we anticipated."

"No." the Doctor was in shock. "No! I know that voice! It can't be! It can't!" He screamed, "Where are you?"

"Doctor, what is it?" Donna asked worriedly.

"Daleks." He replied grimly with hatred in his voice.

Just as he said that, the wall opposite them began rising. The three companions peered out into the dark corridor behind it and could descry three figures. As they got closer the Doctor recognized two daleks with something in between them. The Daleks stopped just outside of the room. The figure between them was a stretcher with someone on it. The person had wires connected to them all over and there was some sort of device attached to them that was rolling behind the stretcher and had flashing lights all over it.

"What!" the Doctor exclaimed. "That's not possible! How is that possible?"

The figure on the stretcher was Rose.

"I'm sorry." The Rose standing next to him murmured and then faded away.

"A hologram. She was a hologram all along." He turned to the Daleks. "A decoy to keep me from finding the real Rose! That's how you've created this entire holographic world! I was right! You do have someone who knows me well. In fact, you have the one person in the universe who knows me better than anyone else."

"What will you do Doctor?" the Dalek on the right asked.

"How far will you go to save the woman you love?" the other finished.

"As far as I need to." He lunged at the dalek, but the wall slammed down in front of him, separating him from Rose and the daleks.

"No!" he screamed and pounded the walls as hard as he could, but they wouldn't budge. Donna came up behind him and grabbed his shoulder.

"Doctor! Calm down!" she tried to stop him from beating the wall. "You need to keep a clear head if we're going to get out of here and save Rose!"

He took a deep breath. "You're right." He started walking around the tiny room. "There must be some way of getting out of here!"

Donna started feeling the wall that had risen.

"I figure it's gotta have some mechanism to go up and down like that." Donna said as she ran her fingers along the smooth white surface. "And a mechanism can be overloaded."

"Brilliant, Donna, brilliant."

She found a crack in the wall and started pulling at it with her fingertips. She managed to pull up the top edge of what turned out to be a panel in the wall. The Doctor came and helped her. They both tugged as hard as they could until the panel broke off and they both fell over. The Doctor jumped up and started investigating the mass of electrical madness in the wall. He pulled out his brainy specs and put them on. He ran his fingers through the different wires and started muttering to himself.

"Not that one. Nope. Not that either. No. I don't even want to know what that is. Ah! Here it is!" he pulled up a thick blue wire.

"What's that, then?"

"No, idea! But it looks important!" he yanked on it and sparks flew as it was ripped out of the rest of the machinery. The wall made a horrid scratching whirring noise and then began to move upward.

"Yes!" he yelled. He and Donna ran out into the dark hall that the daleks had come from.

"Where to?" Donna looked around.

"We follow the yellow brick road." He pointed to the ground.

"What?" Donna was confused until she noticed a thin black line going the length of the corridor.

"Left behind by one of the wheels on the stretcher. Come on!" he started running and Donna chased after him. They followed the line up to a door. The Doctor slowly opened it a crack and saw the two daleks with Rose in front of them. She was hooked up to a computer and daleks were watching a stream of numbers flying by on the large screen in front of them.

"Stay here." He told Donna quietly.

He crept into the room and stopped between the daleks.

"Hello!" he yelled loudly.

The daleks spun around and targeted him.

"Exterminate!" they cried in unison.

The Doctor jumped back just as they fired, causing them to miss him and hit each other instead. Their dalekanium casing was blasted open, exposing the small, slimy creatures inside. Donna ran inside and the Doctor started shutting down the computer. Once everything was off he disconnected all the wires from Rose. She was covered in open wounds from where the cables had been attached. Her eyes flickered open.

"Doctor? Where am I?" she looked around. "We were at my mum's. What's going on?"

"No time to explain. But I'm not that Doctor. The human one. I'm the real one."

"Doctor!" she sat up and hugged him.

"Can you get up?" he asked once she'd let go. "We really need to get out of here."

She tried to move her legs, but failed.

"You've been immobile for too long." The Doctor picked her up and he exited the room with Donna right behind.

"We have to get to that control panel!" he called to Donna.

"What's going on?" Rose asked again. "How comes I'm covered in sores?"

"We're all trapped in a hologram being run by daleks and they've been using you to get information about me."

"Oh? Is that all?" she replied sarcastically.

He smiled.

"Doctor!" Donna called as they ran. "How're we gonna get back to the lift? We don't even know where we are!"

"The lift will be guarded anyway." He called back. They passed a door with an emergency exit sign. The Doctor skidded to a halt and went back to the door. "When in doubt, take the stairs!"


	7. Diversion

They passed a door with an emergency exit sign. The Doctor skidded to a halt and went back to the door. "When in doubt, take the stairs!"

Donna pulled open the door and they dashed through.

"We're on floor 7." The Doctor informed the others after glancing at the large '7' written in red paint on the wall.

"Really?" Donna panted sarcastically with barely enough breath from all the running to comment. "I thought that big number there was a 10!"

The Doctor ignored her.

"Come on! Just three floors down!"

"Wait! Doctor!" He stopped and looked up at Donna. "But there'll be just as many guards as last time and we'll get caught again. And we can't risk that with Rose in the condition she is."

"Then what do you suggest we do?" he asked her.

"A diversion." Rose answered. They both turned to her. "Something to get them thinking we're somewhere we aren't. That way maybe the guards'll leave their post."

"Brilliant!" he exclaimed.

"This ought to work." Donna elbowed the glass surrounding a fire extinguisher on the wall. The clattering glass mixed with the sound of the fire alarm that rang through the building.

"Good work, Donna!" the Doctor complimented. "Now let's get out of here!"

They sprinted down the stairs. The Doctor was taking three at a time with Rose clinging tightly to him. When they reached the fourth floor Donna opened the door a crack and saw three guards race past. She looked out and saw two guards at the entrance to the control panel.

"They've still got two guards left." She told the others.

"How will we get past?" Rose questioned.

"The only one who really needs to get past is you." Donna stared right at the Doctor. "I don't."

"Donna, what are you scheming?" The Doctor asked with a touch of apprehension in his voice.

"Just this." She replied. "Get ready. Oh! You'll need this." She handed Rose the keycard.

"Donna! What are you doing?" he cried as she pulled the door open and ran out. He watched as she stood in plain view of the guards and shouted, "Come and get me!" and dashed down another corridor. The guards followed and he waited a second before he darted to the door. Rose swiped the card for him and the door opened to a small room with another door at the end.

"335533." He told her.

Rose reached out and entered the code. The door swished open and revealed a room full of computers and control panels. The Doctor set Rose down in a chair and started to work on the computer. She spun her head around when someone banged loudly on the first door.

"Let me in!" a voice screamed.

"Donna!" Rose exclaimed.

The Doctor stopped what he was doing and ran to the door and pulled it open. Once Donna had run in he slammed it shut again just as three guards closed in.

"Won't they have a key?" Rose asked worriedly.

"You're right!" the Doctor hurried and shut the second door and then raced back to the computer.

"What're you doing?" Donna asked him.

"Changing the code." He said without looking up. "What should I make the new code?" he asked a second later.

"Does it matter?" Rose said bewilderedly.

"Right." He quickly entered '777777.'

"Just in time." Donna whispered and pointed to the door behind which the frustrated cries of the guards could be heard.

The Doctor looked over his shoulder at the noise, then returned to his work.

"Look here!" he called to Rose and Donna.

"Well that's interesting." Rose said.

"Very interesting." The three of them were looking at ten different screens that each showed a part of the holoroom.

"Enlarge that one." Donna pointed to the bottom right image.

The Doctor hit a few buttons and an image of the guards trying to get inside the room they were in filled the screen.

"But that's just outside." Donna noted. "I thought you said we were out of the hologram."

"It's just a security camera then." The Doctor assured her.

"But what if it's not?" she proposed. "And we're still in the holoroom?"

"No!" he snapped. "That's not it. We're out. We have to be."

"Can you turn off the hologram from here?" Rose asked him.

"Yeh."

"Then do it. That way we'll know what's going on."

"Right. Good idea." he flipped a few switches. "There. It's off. And this room's still here."

"No. Look." Donna gestured all around them.

Everything started flickering in and out of existence, and then disappeared. Rose fell over after the chair she was sitting on vanished. The Doctor just stared in disbelief at the massive white walled room surrounding them. He dropped to his knees and held his head in his hands.

"We'll never get out of here." He muttered.


	8. What Do They Want?

Everything started flickering in and out of existence, and then disappeared. Rose fell over after the chair she was sitting on vanished. The Doctor just stared in disbelief at the massive white walled room surrounding them. He dropped to his knees and held his head in his hands.

"We'll never get out of here." He muttered.

Rose crawled over to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"The Doctor I know would never give up." She smiled up at him.

He looked at her face. She was covered in red blistering sores, some of which were still oozing blood, but she was still the same Rose. He hugged her.

"You're right." He whispered into her shoulder. "You're always right."

"I don't know bout that," she whispered back. "But don't worry. Everything's gonna be okay."

"Yeh, you're right." He stood up and began walking around the room only to trip on seemingly nothing and fall flat on his face.

"Are you alright?" Rose and Donna gasped together.

"What?" he rubbed his nose which he had smacked into the ground. "Yeh, I'm fine. The real question is, 'what did I just trip over?'"

He sat up and started feeling around. A second later he smiled and pulled out his sonic screwdriver.

"What is it?" Rose asked.

"It's got a high energy reading. Probably some sort of emitter." He switched the setting on his screwdriver and sparks started flying from a spot a couple inches from the ground.

"Look!" Donna cried.

The control room was fading back around them. Within a few moments it was completely corporeal. A small cracked black box with several wires sticking out was at the Doctor's feet.

"Ha! Take that!" he yelled as he jumped to his feet. "Oh, you're good. You're very, very good. But I'm better!"

"Ok, what's going on?" Rose was utterly confused.

"Brilliance. That's what. Absolute brilliance." He responded.

"I still don't get it." Rose replied.

"Me neither." Donna added.

"It was a hologram. A hologram over the control room to make us think the control room was a hologram."

When his friends just stared blankly at him he started over.

"It's brilliant. Almost too brilliant in fact. Whoever made this control room set up a subroutine in the system to work as a booby trap so that if anyone ever tried to shut down the hologram, that," he pointed to the black box. "Would switch on making it seem like the control room was disappearing."

"So you would believe you were still trapped in the holoroom." Rose concluded.

"When in reality you're not." The Doctor finished. "Well, I must say, they had me fooled. It's almost like they knew I was coming. Like they knew what I would try."

"We did." The view screen had come on and three people stood in the frame, one of them being the tall woman with the black bun.

"You!" the Doctor sneered. "I don't know who you are but I know that you're behind all this. What do you want with us?"

"Yeh!" Donna interjected. "I don't much like being stuck in holorooms and what not!"

Rose nodded vigorously in agreement.

The woman raised one eyebrow as she examined the three companions.

"Though I must say, you're good." The Doctor told her. "Too good. Far too good. You've known what I was planning this entire time. You've known what I was going to do before I even knew! How is that possible?"

"We have, sources." She replied smugly. "You have been quite fascinating to observe, Doctor."

"But why are we here? What do you want?" he pleaded.

"We want you. Your mind. Your brilliant Time Lord mind."


	9. This is Real

**A/N: Last chapter! Thank you so much to everyone who's been reading this and reviewing it. You're the best and I really appreciate the feedback!**

"But why are we here? What do you want?" he pleaded.

"We want you. Your mind. Your brilliant Time Lord mind."

"Well you can't have it." He answered resolutely. He turned around and picked up Rose and walked over to the door with Donna following. He pulled on the handle but nothing happened.

"You're locked in, Doctor." The woman told him.

"Not for long." He glared at her. "I still have one trick up my sleeve. Quite literally."

Out of his right sleeve slipped his sonic screwdriver. He grabbed it and pointed it at the handle. But when he tried to open it again it wouldn't budge.

"What have you done?" he put Rose down and stood in front of the screen.

"Did you think we would let you roam about with a device like that sonic screwdriver at your command?" she smirked. "That was the first thing we took from you when we placed you in the holoroom."

"But, that can't be!" he was puzzled now. "I used it to save Rose! To destroy that hologram emitter."

"Only because we allowed you to. We are in control, Doctor."

"No." he retorted.

"What do you mean?" the woman asked him.

"I mean 'no.'" he told her. "No one controls me. No one. Ow!" he grabbed his leg. "My legs gone asleep! Oh, I hate when that happens."

He began shaking his leg energetically, attempting to wake it up.

"Hold on." He put his foot back on the ground. "How's that possible, then? I've been running around like a mad man. I've barely stopped for even a minute. Running, running, so much running. So tell me, how is it that my leg's asleep?"

The woman didn't respond.

"Unless," he began. "Oh! How could I have been so stupid?" he ran his fingers through his hair and paced the room. "Of course!" he was practically screaming now. "It's so obvious!"

"What's obvious?" Donna asked.

"My leg is asleep. That's not possible. Unless, I haven't moved. This whole time I haven't moved. Everything around me is all in my head. I've been sitting in the same spot imagining all of this. But my imagination hasn't run away with me, has it?" he turned back to the screen. "You've done something. Somehow you're inside my head."

For the first time since he'd seen her, the black haired woman looked concerned.

"You said you wanted my mind." The Doctor looked right into the woman's eyes. "But when you mess with a Time Lord's mind you pay the price!"

He closed his eyes and images started flashing through his head. Everything he knew. Gallifrey, the TARDIS, the Time War, Daleks, nano genes, Skasis Paradigm, Cybus Industries, Zygon, Skarasen, biological metacrisis.

The woman on the screen started screaming in pain. The Doctor opened his eyes, which were now glowing gold.

"All that is. All that was. All that ever could be. That's what I see all the time. That's what you wanted isn't it?"

The woman and her two assistants behind her had collapsed and fallen out of the frame.

"Ah!" the Doctor looked at his right hand where he had just felt a jolt of pain. "That's it! That's where you're connected to me! I'm almost there!" He closed his eyes again. He was shaking with the effort of channeling all his knowledge. He clenched his hands and a fierce look came across his face. The Shadow Proclamation, The Master, Raxacoricofallapatorius, Nestene Consciousness, Terraforming, Dalig Ulv Stranden, Rose. He opened his eyes again. They had returned to their normal brown but they weren't seeing the same thing they had been a minute ago. He was back in the basement. Where it all started. He could see his TARDIS just feet in front of him. But he was sitting in a chair that was surrounded by pale, greenish-white, scaly aliens. They were all writhing in pain and grabbing their large oblong shaped heads and blinking their enormous black eyes that were like dark endless pits. He glanced at his hand and jumped in his seat and screamed in shock. One of the aliens was latched onto his hand with its mouth. It let go of him to reveal its long purple tongue that resembled an octopus tentacle. Its mouth was small and circular with sharp pointed teeth lining the edges. The Doctor's hand was bleeding profusely from the many teeth marks.

"What have you done?" the alien closest asked in a very melodic voice.

"I gave you what you wanted." The Doctor spat back. He jumped out of the chair and leapt for his TARDIS, but the aliens formed a barrier.

"You cannot leave." They sang together. "You must not leave."

"Why?" the Doctor yelled back at them. "Why can't I go? You got everything you need." He tapped his head.

"You overloaded us. The information was lost. We must begin again."

"Not likely." By now the Doctor had surmised that the aliens talked the way they did because they were sensitive to harsh sounds. "Please be there." He whispered as he reached into his pocket. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver, raised it above his head, and switched it on. A horrid, high-pitched, shrieking noise erupted around the room. The aliens all screamed and collapsed in agony. The Doctor kissed his sonic screwdriver.

"You haven't failed me yet!"

He ran to the TARDIS and was about to open the door when he paused.

"Wait," he said to himself. "What if none of this has really happened." He turned to look at the creatures panting on the floor. "What if they're still messing with my head and they just want me to think I escaped. Just like all the other times."

The aliens started stirring and began getting to their feet. The Doctor pulled out his key, unlocked the TARDIS, and ran inside, slamming the door behind him. He peered out the window at the aliens all around his ship. He turned around and walked toward the console, still wondering if it was real. The other times where he thought he had escaped, Rose and Donna were still there. No matter what had happened, they were still there. Now he was alone.

"No." his voice echoed around the empty TARDIS. "This is real."


End file.
